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A federal law can only apply to FBI, National Guard, Coast Guard and other federally managed law enforcement bodies. It cannot apply to the various state and co

A federal law can only apply to FBI, National Guard, Coast Guard and other federally managed law enforcement bodies. It cannot apply to the various state and county police authorities. Governance of those is a right explicitly granted to each state and county, and the states/counties will fight tooth and nail to retain it.

bigbillheck 3y ago
Usually what happens is the feds don't legislate it directly but tie it to acceptance of federal funding.
karaterobot 3y ago
They'd just use federal funding as leverage. "If you want these federal dollars, you'll abide by the following..." If the 10th amendment went to war with the Spending Power clause, I know who I'd put money on!
MereInterest 3y ago
That doesn't quite make sense to me. A federal policy or a federal executive order only applying to federally-managed bodies, I could understand. But federal laws outweigh state and local laws.
- glitchc 3y ago
  This power stems from the Tenth Amendment, which states that any power not delegated to the Federal government becomes the purview of the State. Given that the state has a number of laws, it must operate its own police force to enforce those laws. Therefore, since a state is required to operate said police force, governance of that force falls under the purview of the state and cannot be delegated to an external authority. If that were possible, the federal government could take control of a state police force to enforce laws contrary to the state's own laws. It sounds circuitous, but the meaning is clear: The state has to be able to govern and control its own police force if it wants to enforce its own laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_power_(United_States_constitutional_law) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_power_(United_States_co...
  - brewdad 3y ago
    You have the causality wrong. The state and local police forces are necessary to enforce local laws because there are many things are are not illegal at the federal level. They simply aren't addressed at all. There also may be consistency in the legality but not the punishment. As an example, when I was in college the max penalty for getting caught with a single marijuana joint ranged anywhere from a $5 fine to a year in prison depending on whether you were caught by a city cop, campus police, county sheriff, or state police officer. I suppose it would have been possible to end up in federal prison if you somehow pissed off the wrong FBI agent.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
abeppu 3y ago
65% of the US population is within the 100-mile border zone in which CBP operates -- I think they shouldn't have drones with facial recognition abilities. In 2015 there was a bunch of press around the FBI running surveillance flights recording cities in the US. Recent reporting suggests that the program has continued (using the same shell companies and names). This would be even harder for citizens to find out about if they were using smaller drones). If federal agencies were prohibited from using drones to surveil citizens en masse, and prohibited from arming drones, I think we'd all benefit. If we also had a federal prohibiting 1033 transfers of military drones with arms or facial recognition, I would also consider that to be a win. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-14/mapping-who-lives-in-border-patrol-s-100-mile-zone https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-14/mapping-w... https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/fbi-spy-plane-baltimore-OKQGESMCSRDUDBOEOW6JH3EQ6A/ https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/criminal-justic...
dghlsakjg 3y ago
Federal laws absolutely apply to local government and their agencies. The death penalty was banned in 1972 on a federal ruling of a local law (Georgia), as a consequence, all death sentences, federal and state, were commuted to life. There are a TON of federal laws that apply to local law enforcement. At this moment there are several local police departments that are being actively monitored and controlled by the DOJ due to unconstitutional activity.
- UncleEntity 3y ago
  Ironically, they didn’t commute those sentences as a result of the death penalty but due to the (lack of) sentencing guidelines being against the 8th amendment. The states rewrote their laws and went right back to sentencing people to death.
gnopgnip 3y ago
This is an oversimplification. Certain federal laws are limited to federal law enforcement, where there is exclusive federal jurisdiction, because these powers are reserved for the states. Other federal laws apply to everyone, to every state. Because it effects interstate commerce or it is related to a constitutional right, like the fifth amendment right to due process

bigbillheck 3y ago

Usually what happens is the feds don't legislate it directly but tie it to acceptance of federal funding.

karaterobot 3y ago

They'd just use federal funding as leverage. "If you want these federal dollars, you'll abide by the following..." If the 10th amendment went to war with the Spending Power clause, I know who I'd put money on!

MereInterest 3y ago

That doesn't quite make sense to me. A federal policy or a federal executive order only applying to federally-managed bodies, I could understand. But federal laws outweigh state and local laws.

glitchc 3y ago
This power stems from the Tenth Amendment, which states that any power not delegated to the Federal government becomes the purview of the State. Given that the state has a number of laws, it must operate its own police force to enforce those laws. Therefore, since a state is required to operate said police force, governance of that force falls under the purview of the state and cannot be delegated to an external authority. If that were possible, the federal government could take control of a state police force to enforce laws contrary to the state's own laws. It sounds circuitous, but the meaning is clear: The state has to be able to govern and control its own police force if it wants to enforce its own laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_power_(United_States_constitutional_law) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_power_(United_States_co...
- brewdad 3y ago
  You have the causality wrong. The state and local police forces are necessary to enforce local laws because there are many things are are not illegal at the federal level. They simply aren't addressed at all. There also may be consistency in the legality but not the punishment. As an example, when I was in college the max penalty for getting caught with a single marijuana joint ranged anywhere from a $5 fine to a year in prison depending on whether you were caught by a city cop, campus police, county sheriff, or state police officer. I suppose it would have been possible to end up in federal prison if you somehow pissed off the wrong FBI agent.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

abeppu 3y ago

65% of the US population is within the 100-mile border zone in which CBP operates -- I think they shouldn't have drones with facial recognition abilities. In 2015 there was a bunch of press around the FBI running surveillance flights recording cities in the US. Recent reporting suggests that the program has continued (using the same shell companies and names). This would be even harder for citizens to find out about if they were using smaller drones). If federal agencies were prohibited from using drones to surveil citizens en masse, and prohibited from arming drones, I think we'd all benefit. If we also had a federal prohibiting 1033 transfers of military drones with arms or facial recognition, I would also consider that to be a win. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-14/mapping-who-lives-in-border-patrol-s-100-mile-zone https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-14/mapping-w... https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/fbi-spy-plane-baltimore-OKQGESMCSRDUDBOEOW6JH3EQ6A/ https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/criminal-justic...

dghlsakjg 3y ago

Federal laws absolutely apply to local government and their agencies. The death penalty was banned in 1972 on a federal ruling of a local law (Georgia), as a consequence, all death sentences, federal and state, were commuted to life. There are a TON of federal laws that apply to local law enforcement. At this moment there are several local police departments that are being actively monitored and controlled by the DOJ due to unconstitutional activity.

UncleEntity 3y ago
Ironically, they didn’t commute those sentences as a result of the death penalty but due to the (lack of) sentencing guidelines being against the 8th amendment. The states rewrote their laws and went right back to sentencing people to death.

gnopgnip 3y ago

This is an oversimplification. Certain federal laws are limited to federal law enforcement, where there is exclusive federal jurisdiction, because these powers are reserved for the states. Other federal laws apply to everyone, to every state. Because it effects interstate commerce or it is related to a constitutional right, like the fifth amendment right to due process